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How Evernote makes text inside images searchable

How Evernote makes text inside images searchable

Did you know that when you snap a photo or attach an image to a note, Evernote can find and identify text — including handwritten text — inside that image?

How it works

Typewritten text and handwritten notes that are in JPG, PNG, or GIF file format are evaluated by our indexing system. Text found within an image will be evaluated if it matches one of the following orientations within a few degrees:

0° – normal horizontal orientation

90° – vertical orientation

270° – vertical orientation

Text that does not match one of these orientations will be ignored (including diagonal and inverted text). When images are indexed, they may turn up several results. For example, the indexing system may look at a word and decide that it is either “cat", “bat”, or “3at”.

The best way to ensure that handwriting, specifically, is found and indexed is to follow these guidelines:

Images containing handwriting should be added to Evernote as JPG images, not PDFs. PDF files are the preferred format for typewritten documents or scanned pages containing typewritten text. Handwriting is not indexed in PDF files.

The clearer the handwriting, the more likely it will be accurately indexed for search. If the penmanship is difficult to read, then Evernote will have a much harder time discerning the written words.

Keep in mind that, instead of generating a single match for a given handwritten word, Evernote will generate several possible matches for the word. For example, the word "flat" as written in a JPG might be indexed as "flat", "float" or "fiat".

Currently, Evernote can index 28 typewritten languages and 11 handwritten languages. You can choose which language is used when indexing by changing the Recognition Language setting in your account settings.